In this E-pistle:

HAPPY 99^TH
THE WEATHER OUTSIDE…
SHOUT TO THE LORD (JOYFULLY)!

The email version of the E-pistle always includes a list of prayer concerns, usually naming the anmes of those for whom we are praying. The list normally includes the ill, the recovering, and the mourning. Of course we pray for the needs the ill and the hurting, but we also pray with thanks for the lives of the some of the amazing people with whom God has allowed us to share the journey. For many of us, Mabel Miller is one of those amazing people. Yesterday was Mabel’s 99^th birthday. I visited with Mabel at Beaver Meadows and as we talked, I marveled at the life of this great saint and gave thanks for the privilege of knowing Mabel (Mabel was still only 91 when we arrived in Beaver).

Mabel was born on February 16, 1907. It had been four years since the Wright Brothers had made their flight at Kitty Hawk, but airplanes were anything but common. It would be another year until Henry Ford began to build the Model T. Telephones and houses with electricity were rare. Two world wars, the Great Depression, space flight, radio, television, washing machines, a woman’s right to vote, computers, microwave ovens, the internet, cell phones – all those and a thousand more are some of the new things Mabel has experienced in her life. She taught school and she and Ralph visited all 50 states.

Mabel has slowed down a bit, but she’s still Mabel. She can tell you just about everyone who has sent a birthday card (I don’t think it’s too late) and wants more than anything else to know how the folks she knows are doing. If you ask Mabel what she missed most now that she’s living at Beaver Meadows, she’s pretty quick to say that she misses most coming to church. She’ll tell you about how her mother used to lay her Sunday dress out every Saturday night and how they never missed a week of Sunday School or worship.

A wonderful and amazing person. Happy Birthday, Mabel.

Who didn’t like that 60 degree weather yesterday? But it is February and we’ve got to get ready for that high of 22 tomorrow. Yes, the weather outside is turning frightful, but that won’t bother the 35-40 kids who will enjoy a mini-VBS tomorrow morning inside the warm confines of Park Church. Sally Morgan has nearly 20 loving adults who will be part of the program – really a gift to kids in the church and community, and just one more way that our church family shares the Good News of God’s love with those around us.

So, what’s the right way to worship? On Sunday we will lift our hands (gasp!) and our voices in praise to God singing one of the enduring and lasting hymns of faith, perhaps the most popular praise song of the last dozen years, and a new favorite from the blue hymnal. Is one of those more “right” than the others? No. All that is right is that we worship God with all our might – read 2 Samuel 6 and come with a David heart rather than a Michal heart. Yes, shout to the lord! (joyfully).

See you Sunday!